North Bay Woman

36 NORTH BAY WOMAN | F A L L 2 0 1 4 By Paula Wrenn Photos by Stuart Lirette The vast majority of small businesses are started by women seeking to make their way independently in the business world. Despite their higher numbers, businesses owned by female entrepreneurs seldom receive venture capital. The playing field remains steeply sloped in favor of male-owned businesses for traditional lending, as well. Some attribute the funding imbalance to the fact that many female-owned sole proprietor businesses are service-related. Product-ori- ented businesses, especially those involving high-tech patents in chemistry, semiconductor manufacturing, engineering and bio-science, involve disciplines in which women are se- riously under-represented. According to the National Women's Business Council (NWBC), patents granted to women doubled from 9% in 1990 to 18% in 2010. NWBC indicates that despite the increased role of women in bio-sciences very little study has been done on women and intellectual property. Circumstance-driven startup Dolano Arthur has many contacts through her interests in martial arts and yoga. A divorce precipitated her parlaying that knowledge and her contacts into a small business, Aikido Kids of Tamalpais. She describes Aikido as one of the most difficult martial arts based in ancient Japanese tradi- tion. "When something [negative or physical] comes at you, Aikido teaches you to move with it and redirect it," she explains. "It's not about taking someone out". A figure-it-out-while-doing-it type, Arthur isn't an accidental entrepreneur, nor is her approach to starting a business unusual. Many small business owners venture forth with the goal to create an immediate paycheck for themselves. Rather than to build an organiza- tion, they begin with a service or product and gradually build a foundation for it. "I took over the youth program operated by an adult dojo about six years ago and developed a curriculum," she says. Two years ago she began to actively market it but discovered that referral conduits were not as expected, such as through school assemblies. She works with educators familiar with Aikido as mentors, but entering her young students in local parades has given the best exposure to her business and a chance for students to show the community what they do. Arthur's goal is to move up from about 40 students to 50 or 60 this year. When the approach to a business start-up is informal and intuitive rather than based on a business and marketing plan, business loans are generally not an option. Operating capital dissipates quickly during the first year or two, when many small businesses fail. It is not unusual for small business start-ups to involve friends, colleagues and family for start-up funding. Miriam Karell is SBDC Manager at Marin Renaissance, a full service entrepreneur center and the host agency for Marin Small Business Development Center. The center represents an amalgamation of education, advice and sup- port for entrepreneurs, as well as incubator services and available work space. Costs are low and some scholarships are available. Seventy-two percent of the center's clients Funding is available for Women–owned businesses Miriam Karell, left, talking over business strategy with Oshalla Diana Marcus at the Marin Renaissance in San Rafael.

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